


more than words

by sydneybbristow



Category: SKAM Austin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-09-18 20:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20319022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sydneybbristow/pseuds/sydneybbristow
Summary: “Why do you care? I’m nobody.”Scenes from season 2 and scenes we deserved. Probably multi-chapter.





	1. Chapter 1

Grace Olsen was not having the best week. It sucked, in fact, and it was only Monday. Even worse, the cause of this was boy problems, and she was embarrassed to admit it. She had promised herself she wasn’t going to be the kind of girl that lives and dies by what a boy thinks of her, yet here she was, sulking over a boy. A football player, nonetheless. It was pretty pathetic.  
The weekend before had started off very differently. After unexpectedly spending the night at Daniel’s house – in his bed – they had reached a point where there was no pretending anymore. He had caught her lying about being locked out of her home so she could stay there, but never called her out on it. At this point, they knew that they felt the same way about each other. Or did they? The next morning she had been so happy. He was, too. It felt genuine. And for a moment there, she was sure he was about to kiss her. She had waited for it, done her best to let him know that she wouldn’t mind. Instead, his douchey older brother had showed up and the moment was gone. The presence of another person had shifted Daniel’s demeanor towards her in a way that she did not like. She figured introducing her to a family member without ever having the talk of what they were would be awkward under any circumstances, but she had gotten the feeling that he would prefer not to do it at all. When she left disappointed she had heard them talk in the kitchen.  
“Who was that?”  
“Nobody.”  
Just moments earlier she could have sworn that she had him. He had acted like he cared, even told her straight up that he liked her, and she had started to let herself believe it. Of course it wasn’t real. It had just been a game to him. She had been naïve, foolish, she had wanted to see things that weren’t there. Was she really any better than Kelsey, who had a one-night stand and thought that it meant something more than it did? “This is different”, she had thought. “It’s not about sex, there are real feelings involved”, she had justified. For a girl who wasn’t prone to wishful thinking and silly daydreams about real love, she sure had let her imagination run wild.  
So, days later, when he texted her that she was beautiful she deleted all of his messages.  
She knew she shouldn’t have let her guard down. She could only be thankful that things hadn’t gone any further than they did. If this was how he was going to act when they were around other people, if what she had overheard was what he really felt, then she had dodged a bullet.

That Thursday, when she was dragged out of class by Jordan Diaz, she really started to feel that the universe was working her last nerve. Her mood was already low and whoever thought this was a funny prank – because she was sure that it was a stupid prank, she had absolutely no reason to be called to the principal’s office – would definitely be on the receiving end of the crankiness that she had felt building for days, ready to boil over. Her thoughts were interrupted when somebody grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty classroom. Figures.  
“The principal’s office? Really?” She thought. It was like Daniel was trying to live out as many fanfiction tropes as possible. He greeted her warmly, looked at her with anticipation, almost like he was expecting her to be happy to see him. In different circumstances she would have been, but she would honestly rather die than admit it. Unbothered by her cold shoulder, he went on to invite her to the stupid fundraiser where he would probably be whoring himself out to girls who didn’t know him and didn’t care to. Grace had told herself that she wouldn’t care what he did and with whom anymore, but she could still find the whole concept idiotic.  
“Yeah. I would love -” The words had yet to escape Grace’s mouth before Daniel’s face was plastered with the exact same look he always had when he knew a roast of his life, personality or general demeanor was coming. She knew it brought him great amusement, even though she had at times been known to be, she would admit, unnecessarily mean. “- To spend my night raising money for a bunch of spoiled, alcoholic manbabies, sure.” No mention of any auctions, she did not want to sound jealous, after all.  
”Great. It’s a date”, he said, looking extremely pleased with himself. Grace was puzzled. He was acting like he hadn’t been an asshole the last time they spoke or he was just completely unaware of it. Either way, she wasn’t going to play along. She reminded Daniel that she didn’t mean anything to him – that much he had made clear – and it was his turn to be confused. It was evident that he hadn’t realized until now that she had heard him. She could have stuck to being passive-aggressive, ignoring him and never letting him know that he had hurt her, avoiding the uncomfortable conversation, but no, she wasn’t going to let him off the hook, even if this meant she had to let herself be vulnerable.  
“With your brother...” She spelled it out for him. When the realization hit him, he had no excuse, offered no explanation, just an apology. There was a sadness in his expression that made her believe that he really was sorry, but she knew better now than to let those puppy eyes fool her. She wasn’t going to pretend that he hadn’t hurt her. So she let him know that the time they had spent together hadn’t changed anything, that he was back at square one with her and that she still believed all the things she had believed the first time they ever met. When she spoke, she knew it struck a nerve.  
“Could you be any more of a fuckboy?”

Somehow she thought they were even.

\--

“So let me get this straight”, Jordan said while taking a bite of his taco. “After spending a night alone with your dream girl, you serenaded her into bed-”  
“I told you, we didn’t-“  
“I know, I know, you’ve mentioned that ten times already. You serenaded her, spent the night with her just watching her sleep or something, almost kissed, and you still managed to blow it?”  
Daniel let out a sigh while sinking back in his seat. “Yeah, I guess I did.” Up until now he had been successfully avoiding talking about Grace and his earlier conversation with her, but his friend had lured him out to get food and cornered him, so he had no choice but to update him on how the girl he had been gushing about for weeks had rejected him once again.  
“What did you do?”  
“When she was leaving and Clay asked about her I just said she was nobody.” Seeing Jordan’s eyebrows raise, he continued defensively. “You know how he is, I didn’t want him to be a dick about it. Anyway, I didn’t think that she heard, turns out she did.”  
“Wow”, Jordan replied. “That’s pretty bad, man. She thinks you’re playing her.”  
“I know.” He had gone over it in his head a hundred times. When Grace had left his house a couple of mornings earlier, he had been fully aware that their awkward goodbye hadn’t been ideal, but he hadn’t expected it to put the nail in the coffin of their non-relationship. It hadn’t been his intention to make her feel like she wasn’t worth anything to him, but that’s what he had done. And just like that, her walls were up again. Just as he thought they were getting somewhere, he had ruined it. He didn’t know how to come back from this.  
“Okay, we can fix this”, said Jordan. Daniel looked up at him skeptically. “No, seriously. You just have to tell her the truth. Tell her all the things you’ve told me. Tell her she is the one you’ve always dreamed of, you don’t want to live without her, yada yada.”  
“Why am I taking relationship advice from you again?” It was a valid question. He knew Jordan was being a good friend, but his track record when it came to relationships was honestly just a little better than his. And his wasn’t great, that much had been established.  
“Tell her on Friday.”  
“I don’t think she’s coming.” If he had interpreted the situation correctly, Grace had no intention of ever coming near him again unless she absolutely had to. He couldn’t blame her. And even if she did, why would she believe anything he said to her? There was no way she would ever believe he was serious about her. She had always believed the worst of him, but lately, somehow she had managed to see past that, but only for a little while. It killed him to think about what she must be feeling about him now. Maybe, if he could just talk to her, explain everything and be truthful about how he felt about her, there was a chance he could fix it. But how? It wasn’t like she was going to answer a phone call. In the past, she had masterfully avoided showing up to parties even though all of her friends were attending, there was no reason to assume she would let herself be dragged along now, especially when she clearly found the whole concept pointless and stupid. If there was anything he could to do give her a reason to show up on Friday, then..  
“I have an idea.”  
“Good. Remember to kiss her this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been years since I’ve written anything creative so thanks to these lovely beautiful characters for making me feel like I had no choice. I’ve never written fanfics before but I think I did ok. I write English well but it’s not my first language so if any expression seems awkward it’s probably because of that.. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ”Aren’t you sick of this? I can’t keep doing this.”

At the end of an otherwise uneventful night, they had finally collided. Grace had wasted no time, just called his name to stop him in his tracks before taking the step, running to him before she had the time to change her mind. The collision made her heart sing, the world had stopped around them and nothing else existed except him, him, him.  
When they finally pulled apart, neither of them spoke. So much for not having feelings for him. It had all come crashing down when he left her standing there, ready to give up on her forever, and she only felt despair. That was not what she truly wanted. Forget what everyone else expected of her, for once, she had mustered up the courage to go after what she wanted, shaking off the weight of the world on her shoulders and carefree of the opinions of others. Fuck the rest of the world, this was what she earned for, her deepest desire come to life. Her thoughts were so clear now; it was like being stuck underwater and finally coming up for air.  
She suddenly realized how confusing her actions must be. She breathed in the fresh, crisp air. She put her arms around him and pulled him closer.  
“I lied”, she whispered to his neck.  
“Okay”, he whispered back.

  
They spent the rest of the night together, catching up on each other’s lives and thoughts from weeks of longing. They had driven out of the rowdy city and were now watching the lights, like burning coal beneath them, from a hilltop.  
She felt free. She had made up her mind and taken the leap and she felt so light. Daniel wanted to know what she thought about everything, what her favorite season was, where she would go if she could go anywhere in the world. He saw her and he made her laugh like nobody else and she loved him for that.  
“I don’t want this night to end”, she said quietly against his shoulder. He planted lazy kisses on her forehead, seemingly lost in thoughts. Then he asked:  
“Are you hungry?” She looked up at him, trying to count the freckles in the dim light. She loved those freckles and she wished she could tell him. His thick eyelashes, the dark curls of his hair and his beautiful, brown eyes. She felt a spark of joy in her chest when she remembered she could tell him now.

\--

Daniel was mourning the end of this day even before it had started. He wanted to spend every waking moment with his new – he didn’t know what they were, they still hadn’t had that talk, girlfriend? – there just wasn’t enough hours in a day and that sucked. He didn’t want to sleep. He wanted to be with Grace. So he made her pancakes the next morning, after being apart from her for a couple of hours. She was sitting across from him as he did so and he still couldn’t believe his luck. She was here, after the magic of last night had faded, she was there in the morning, happily dangling her feet and talking about dance auditions. This much he had gathered: she didn’t really care for dancing in the way that her friends did, she had just joined them to make friends at school since moving from Dallas, and now she just kind of kept up with it to make Kelsey happy, she felt like she needed all the goodwill she could get from her. She paused after mentioning her friend.  
“I just… I don’t know what to tell her”, she said, looking at her hands. He just nodded. It was understandable, with everything still so new, that she hadn’t had much time to think about how they would approach inevitably telling the world about whatever they were. He wasn’t so sure himself. In fact, he had no idea if they were on the same page. It had felt like they were, but he should make sure.  
“Hey, Grace?” He turned to look at her and saw her waiting for him to continue. “We’re together now, right?”  
She looked at him quietly for a second, her clear blue eyes wide awake. His heart was beating him to death.  
“Yeah. We are.”

The hours passed in what felt like minutes. Breakfast turned to lunch that turned to ordering takeout and watching movies. What they were watching didn’t really matter, they spent most of that time making out on the couch anyway. She was curled up against him with her legs thrown over his, their hands clasped together, when the message sound of her phone interrupted them.  
“Eve is asking when or if I’m coming home..”  
He wondered how much she had told her cousin about what had went down between them last night, if she had said anything at all. He wondered if she, like him, hadn’t been able to help herself from telling people. He had actually managed to go to bed after dropping her off without immediately telling Jordan and Hunter, and only sent the group chat a promise of “talk later” when he turned them down on a request to hang out today, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut about her for long after she left his house. These past 24 hours had been the best of his life, after all, and he felt it was too much to ask to keep all of that inside of him. He had agreed to keep their relationship secret for now, but surely telling his best friends, who weren’t going to blab to anyone, didn’t count. He wondered if she had someone she could tell.  
“Does she know?” He asked.  
“That I’m here? Yeah. She was still up when I came home last night and I didn’t want to lie about it. I mean, she knew something was up, I was, uhm..” She trailed off, embarrassed. He felt a warmth spread inside of him. She had been talking about him.  
She opened her mouth again, hesitating. He had dreaded this moment since she came over. Before she could speak, he went in.  
“You can just stay –“  
“We’re not having sex.”  
“That’s not... I wasn’t”, he started. She giggled at his defensiveness. “I just want to cuddle you. Is that so bad?” He had decided that being upfront about his feelings and intentions was the best way to go, even if it occasionally made him look like an idiot.  
She rolled her eyes. “God, you’re pathetic.”  
He laughed. He could live with being pathetic if it meant she wasn’t going home for the night. She stretched her arms out over her head. “I am pretty tired”, she said suggestively.  
“Eve will understand”, he replied.  
“Oh, Eve will be thrilled if I tell her I’m not coming home tonight”, she said while reaching for her phone again, then quickly typing a message with a slight smile on her face.

The day had come to an end. Now she was cuddled up in his bed, wearing his t-shirt, head resting on his pillow, making sure it would smell like her hair for days. He loved that smell and he didn’t mind. He loved her. Already.  
Despite the kisses that made him feel high, her full lips that he couldn’t get enough of and the taste of her mouth doing their best to keep him awake, he started to feel himself drift away.  
“Go to sleep then”, demanded Grace while she, too suppressed a yawn.  
“I don’t wanna sleep”, he insisted, while barely keeping his eyes open.  
“Yeah?”  
“It’s like that Aerosmith song where he doesn’t want to miss a thing.”  
“That’s a little creepy.”  
“It’s romantic.”  
They had settled in, face to face with their bodies close, sharing little kisses between talks. When they stopped talking and accepted that sleep would soon lure them both in, she turned her back to him. They were both quietly lying there for a moment until she lifted her head and glanced over her shoulder at him.  
“You’re not gonna hold me?”  
He grinned at her obvious need of affection. “I thought you might want some space.”  
“I’m good”, she said quickly.  
He reached his arm around her and pulled her back against his chest, nuzzling her neck. “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been to Texas, I hope they have hills.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Are you only into this because it's a secret?"  
I loved this scene, it was so intimate and sweet, and I always imagined them talking more afterwards.

They were making out again. After pausing for an intimate talk and cuddle - and to let Daniel’s blood flow go back to normal – the little kisses gradually became longer, deeper, and suddenly his hand was on her thigh again, and her thigh was wrapped around his waist. Her chest was pressed against his now, sharing heartbeats. It was like they could never be close enough, except they could. When they came up for air, he buried his face in the pillows and groaned.  
“Do you need a moment?” Grace asked.  
“Try ten”, he mumbled into the pillow. She giggled.  
She had felt him against her stomach a couple of times now, but it wasn't something that bothered her. On the contrary, she enjoyed that she gave him that reaction, as shallow as it was. She was grateful that her own excitement wasn’t as visible on the outside. Aside from her heavy breaths, he had no way of knowing how she really felt whenever his hands were on her ass or under her shirt while he kissed her. If she had been more reckless, she would let him do much more, but she wasn’t, and she was going to do it right this time. No matter how good it felt to make out, having him on top of her and letting their hands wander, that was as far as they were going for now. When she had told him there would be no sex until marriage he had been surprised – she supposed that wasn’t an entirely common thing for a non-religious 21st century feminist in high school to say – but he had immediately accepted it. She was aware that it probably wasn’t an ideal position for him to be in or what he had expected from being in a relationship, but he had made the choice to be with her regardless and never made her feel like it was an inconvenience for him at all. He didn’t know the full story, of course, and no, she wasn’t actually waiting for marriage, but she was thankful for the fact that there was no rush to explain and open up about her deepest fears and hardest experiences. She feared that if she just gave him what he wanted he would leave her, just like what happened the first time, and she feared that if she didn’t give him what he needed he would get it somewhere else. Part of the reason why she had been reluctant to give into her feelings for him in the first place was her suspicion that he would expect her to give him what other girls did. Setting boundaries early released her from those expectations, but it was also a test to see if he would stick around. He passed. She trusted him and she believed him when he said it was okay, but something one of her friends had said earlier that week had planted a seed in her mind. Remembering this, her mood shifted. Daniel had noticed she was suddenly quiet. He looked up at her.  
“What’s up?”  
“I have to ask”, she started. She didn’t want to ask him this, didn’t want to accuse him of anything and she hated how insecure it would make her look, but she had to. “Are you sleeping with somebody else?”  
This flabbergasted him. He actually had the nerve to laugh. “What?”  
“Are – you”, Grace said slowly, annoyed suddenly that he wasn’t taking her seriously. “Ha-ving? Sex? With – other – people?”  
“No!” Daniel’s eyebrows furrowed, he was defensive now but his voice was soft when he continued. “Why are you saying that?”  
“Zoya said if a guy isn’t sleeping with you he’s sleeping with somebody else”, Grace said, defeated. She did sound crazy and now she regretted bringing it up at all. She closed her eyes and let her head sink into the pillow. She soon felt Daniel’s hand on her cheek, stroking it with his thumb.  
“Hey.” She didn’t want to look at him, she had revealed her vulnerability and she didn’t like that feeling. “Gracie.” He was stroking her hair now. Her eyes opened slowly.  
“I would never do that. I don’t want to and I don’t need it”,  
“But –“  
“It’s not that important. I promise.” His voice was almost a whisper, gently reassuring her that everything was alright. She didn’t exactly love exposing herself as an insecure person who couldn’t wait to accuse her boyfriend of cheating if he so much as made eye contact with another girl, but at the same time it was relieving to have aired her worries and let him know. Just moments earlier, Daniel had been the one to question if she only wanted him for the thrill of sneaking around and keeping secrets, knowing that she was doing something in her mind forbidden. He had asked her reluctantly, as if he was afraid of hearing her answer. She was reminded that he had insecurities, just like her. She supposed it was suspicious that the girl who had never been impressed by anything he had to offer suddenly wanted to be with him – but only if nobody else knew. Sure, he knew why she wanted to keep it under the radar for now, but maybe he had a subconscious fear that it was all too good to be true, that she couldn’t possibly like him for him. God knows she had that fear, deep down. But she had never cared about what he presented to the world, didn’t care that he was a quarterback with the social status that came with it, and she didn’t want to use him and then forget him. She only cared that he was sweet and loving, supportive and warm. That he was curious about everything she had to say and encouraged her to say it. That he had showed her more affection in a few days than she had experienced probably in her entire life. She wondered if somebody, except for his friends, had loved him before.  
“Kelsey’s being a bitch to me already”, she said, trying to wrap him in the same reassurance he had just given her. “And that’s just for screwing up her audition, apparently. I just don’t want to add fuel to the fire.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.  
“I get it.” Always understanding. She looked into his eyes and she realized there was nowhere she would rather be than in this moment, right now, with him. He had such kind eyes and she always felt a wave of calmness whenever she looked into them. To think that there had been a time when she had thought the worst of him, that he was cruel, uninteresting and ignorant, seemed so strange now. She had gotten it all so twisted. For someone who had thought that she knew everything, this time it was nice to be wrong.

“You were right”, Daniel said before taking another bite. “You do make them better.”  
They had finally made it out of Grace’s bedroom to make tacos – she had taken him up on inviting him over for dinner, she figured if he could make her pancakes she could make the same kind of effort. And she actually enjoyed making food for her loved ones, so she was happy.  
“I’m glad I live up to your expectations”, she said, beaming on the inside. Then they were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and shutting, a voice shouting “Thank god, I’m starving!”, and then Eve entering the room.  
“I’ve had the longest day”, she complained while digging through her backpack and pulling out a charger. “But I finally finished that one..” she looked up and stopped. “Daniel’s here!” she cheerfully exclaimed, as if she was telling Grace something she didn’t know. She looked at Grace, then back at Daniel, smiling widely.  
“Good to see you, Eve”, said Daniel. It was a little awkward, like Eve had just interrupted an intimate moment between them. Eve on the other hand was completely oblivious to this. She was thrilled.  
“The bats worked, huh?”  
“I guess they did.”  
Grace rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop herself from laughing. All of this was so unexpected and she still couldn’t believe it was happening, but it felt so right.

Later that night, they were at the front door, ready to say goodnight. Grace’s lips were swollen, her face flushed. Daniel’s hair was ruffled. She couldn’t help it, she loved tangling her fingers up in those thick curls.  
She kissed him again.  
“I’m not wearing a stupid corsage.” And again. He opened his eyes, a slight smile was starting to form on his lips.  
“To prom?”, he asked, grinning now. She pulled him into a hug.  
“Yeah. We’ll figure it out.” He kissed her.  
"Goodnight loser."

“How was it?”, Eve asked eagerly after Daniel had left and Grace re-entered the living room.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Okay, don’t tell me you haven’t fucked.”  
“We haven’t.” Eve looked at her in disbelief.  
“Why not? He’s hot, you’re hot, he obviously loves you…” Grace put her hands up in defeat.  
“I’m going to bed now”, she said, walking away, but Eve kept talking.  
“It’s gonna happen soon, I’m telling you.”  
“Goodnight Eve!”  
“You’re so horny!” Eve shouted after her as she entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She wasn’t wrong, but Grace didn’t need to let her know that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "Don't tell me you haven't fucked" is directly stolen from a unused scene from Julie Andem's original script for 2x07. The "It's gonna happen soon" is directly stolen from a used scene. :)


End file.
